The fintech company becomes the first social commerce platform to gain CBN approval in Principle to drive digital payments and inclusion for micro-entrepreneurs in Nigeria

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted an Approval In Principle (AIP) to Abeg Technologies Limited, a product of Piggytech Global Limited, as a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) in Nigeria. With the platform becoming Nigeria’s first social commerce platform to secure the CBN’s AIP for an MMO license, the announcement marks a crucial development in the company’s bid to support seamless payments and online commerce throughout the country.

Additionally, in a move to underline its evolution from a money transfer app to a social commerce platform, Abeg is rebranding completely to “Pocket by Piggyvest” (PocketApp).

The platform’s new name references its added functionalities for users to buy and sell items via virtual pocket shops and reinforces its push into a social commerce market estimated to reach US$23.8 billion by 2028 in Nigeria alone.

PocketApp received an AIP dated April 25, 2022, from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a license application to operate as a Mobile Money company. For the Piggytech subsidiary, this is the first step towards final approval, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as stipulated by the CBN.

Commenting on the approval, Odunayo Eweniyi, Co-Founder and COO of Piggytech Global Limited, stated, “We’re incredibly pleased that PocketApp has been granted an approval in principle as a Mobile Money Operator in Nigeria. We will now work closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the full operating license, enabling us to continue growing and expanding the scope of our social payments, social commerce and other digital financial products to reach millions of Nigerian micro-entrepreneurs.”

PocketApp affirms its commitment to the financial inclusion agenda of the CBN and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and will continue to make it easier for our teeming young population to seamlessly carry out their transactions, while saving them costs and giving them more access to get paid.

The Mobile Money Operator license will enable the company to carry out activities around: Wallet Creation and Management, E-money issuing, USSD, agent recruitment and management, pool account management, non-bank acquiring as stipulated in the regulatory requirements for non-bank merchant acquiring in Nigeria, card acquiring, and any other activities that may be permitted by the CBN.

Speaking on the company’s evolution, Patricia Adoga, COO of PocketApp, states, “For the last 18 months, we have been focused on building the core infrastructure that will enable secure social commerce and payments at scale. We believe that social commerce will thrive better in a more trusted environment. So we added escrow to our payment infrastructure, protecting buyers and sellers and many other features, ensuring a smooth shopping experience on the app.”

The app was launched as Abeg App in 2021. New as PocketApp, the payments app has about 2 million users to date. The company initially started its journey as a payment platform for sending and receiving money. It has since ventured into a full social commerce app, connecting buyers and sellers across Nigeria and soon Africa

American rapper, DaBaby is trending on social media for different reasons.

The Rapper hopped on Instagram to share how he went through hell to get a last minute flight back to the U.S. Recall that Davido sent his Private Jet to get DaBaby to Nigeria for their fun and highly anticipated music video.

The fun and exciting shoot is over and DaBaby had to go to back to the States for business. He made a video of him in the plane and lamented about how he had to spend a lot of money just to board the flight.

This revelation wasn’t surprisingly enough to distract Nigerians form the fact that a passenger almost decked him on the plane. DaBaby unintentionally recorded a not so happy Nigerian while he was getting a shot of his assistant on the plane.

When he noticed the passenger wasn’t pleased, he immediately apologized and stopped his recording. He then made another video and explained what happened. According to him, he mistook him as one of his die hard fans, but he meant no disrespect

Grammy Winner, Burna Boy has reacted to his song, ‘Last Last’ pushing Davido’s ‘Stand Strong’ down to No.2.

We earlier reported that Davido took to Instagram to celebrate after ‘Stand Strong’ topped all the newly released songs on ‘Afrobeats Derby’ on Apple Music.

He took to his Instagram account and Twitter account to brag about it; “They call me 001 for a reason”.

A few hours later, Burna Boy’s new song, “Last Last” topped the chart and fans wasted no time in dragging Davido.

Reacting to the dethronement of ‘Stand Strong’,  Burna boy took to his Twitter account to laugh. He reposted a screenshot of the chart and used two laughing emojis to shade Davido.

See the post below;